d woman. I am so horribly frightened," said
Klytia weeping.

"Little fool who bade thee come. As thou camest alone, thou canst
return alone," and the eyes of the old woman began to flash angrily.

"I will not return alone," said Klytia in a decided tone. "You either
accompany me, or otherwise I wait till some one else comes."

"You wish to bottle the night dew to use against summer freckles, so
that the white face may not become yellow, or break _Liebessamen_ or
gather roots of _Maennertreu_?"[4] Then suddenly bursting into a rage
she cast a wicked look at the affrighted maiden and said: "May Satan
bless you," and uncoiling herself she left, murmuring deep curses as
she descended the darkest of the wood paths, where she soon disappeared
among the firs.

Full of melancholy Lydia sat down on a stone. The red glow in the West
had died away. Could Laurenzano have been there already, and been
disturbed by the witch, or should she wait for him? Terrified and
repenting she crept into the corner in the which the old witch had
crouched. She noticed that the grass was marked as if by a knife in
curious streaks, and around in strange order lay some dark stones. The
grass was singed. The old woman must have just extinguished her fire as
Lydia came up. The meaning of the curse last spoken by the old witch
was now plain to her. She had disturbed her during her incantations at
the cross roads. Horrified she looked behind her at the dark fir trees
to see whether the wicked woman would not finally plague her with some
calamity. She would only wait a quarter of an hour longer for the
Magister, then would she bound down the wood-path like a deer to reach
the bridge before the shutting of the gates. But all remained still. No
Paolo. Sitting thus alone and abandoned on the Holtermann, tears came
to her eyes. "I have really come to what the song says:

Eh' denn ich lass' das Weinen gehn,
Will ich lieber an der Wegscheid stehn,
Will eine Feldblum werden."

She was just on the point of starting for home when she heard voices in
the distance. Excitedly did she strain her ears to catch the sound of
Paolo's voice. Instead she heard three or four men talking to one
another loudly and coarsely. A new horror; how was she to pass by these
strange men, who moreover appeared to her to be drunk? It would be best
for her to lurk behind the bushes till the road was free. Hastily she
chose a hiding-place. She hear